


We Are Sisters, You and I

by BlindtoDreams



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Crossover Pairings, Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 20:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1702223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlindtoDreams/pseuds/BlindtoDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faith has a protege, and Abigail a mentor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are Sisters, You and I

The body is gone just seconds after Abigail feels its resistance sinking away beneath her stake. There’s nothing to clean. Nothing to hide. There’s nothing to reassure her, one way or the other, that the memory of the murder is genuine.  
  
That’s what it takes to make her understand. Truth catches up to the much swifter feet of denial: these aren’t _people_ she’s hunting. Not anymore.  
  
Faith is flushed and effervescent beside her. Vitality is a dark red song in her skin. Animal noises come out of her throat with each breath. Abigail, in contrast, is pale and stricken silent, fascinated and thoughtful.  
  
After a time, Faith ends a predator’s scan of their surroundings, stretches her arms high above her head and throws one hip out; prideful, beastly gloating. “That’s it, Ab. That’s all there is to it. Feels pretty good, huh?”  
  
Abigail looks at the empty space, again, where a body should be. “It doesn’t count, does it?”  
  
Faith is instantly impatient. She is always impatient with Abigail’s attempted poetry, her scripted conversational leading. The way she meanders through philosophy and metaphor to get to a point - it wastes time. It makes Faith anxious. It makes everything sit so _still_ in her brain. “Meaning?”  
  
"No matter how many of these I kill. It doesn’t count. Even if I want to kill them. It doesn't count." With a swallow, she takes control of her face, unbolts her expression, relaxes by force. "It doesn’t make me a monster. Does it?"  
  
It’s the same reaction Faith would’ve had to the sound of an insult. Her head snaps up, her focus narrows - a sight over a gun’s barrel. She’s ready to fire even before she knows what she’s firing at.  
  
“ _What_?” A trap. Trick question. The minute Abigail’s mouth opens to explain, Faith attacks again, sharper, louder. “ _No._ No it doesn’t. It doesn’t make you a _monster_. This is a _skill._ What we do _saves lives_. Don’t ever say that. You can’t even _think_ that.”  
  
Abigail knows better than to argue. Already, she understands that Faith hits the hardest when she’s at her most vulnerable. There’s a story there that Faith hasn’t told. Abigail is not the one she’s mad at.  
  
Unchallenged, Faith has no choice but to spin out alone, scoffing and shaking her head, throwing her weight from one foot to the other. Self-soothing is a series of lies - she’s never been unjustified, for instance. A self-soothing lie. She’s always had to look out for herself. Another. She hates the size and depth of Abigail’s eyes staring at her in patient expectation. Another.  
  
She hates that Abigail sets off these explosions inside her and then says nothing. She _hates_ that. _She hates it._  
  
Her mulberry nails are dimpling Abigail’s arms by the time she draws another breath, and their mouths are close, and Faith is angry as a mother, angry as a lover. “You listen to me, Bambi, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once. If what you do makes the world better, _you_ make the rules. That’s it. Nobody has the right to talk to you about motive. Nobody has the right to say you gotta do this job like a nun and repent for your sins if you get a little thrill. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing it wrong. Why _shouldn’t_ you like it? If it makes you happy, Ab, you take it by the _throat_. Get all the happiness you can while it’s still there. You are not a monster. You understand?”  
  
"I understand, Faith." She isn’t lying. She’s just answering a different question. 


End file.
